Sneaking by MIT adds to a problem that has been brewing since Harvard dropped two crucial games against regional opponents Queens and UMass this past weekend at the Northern Division Tournament. Last year the Crimson exceeded its expectations, but after losing only two players and gaining six new freshmen, this season was to be different. This season was supposed to be one which catapulted Harvard into an upper echelon of water polo.

"It's really hard to finger," Benson said. "We just really came out uninspired. It was astonishing. If we play the same against Brown or Navy the way we did against Iona or MIT, yeah, we'll get hammered."

The Crimson has little time to change its current course as it travels to Brown tomorrow and then heads out to Navy for a weekend tournament.

"Hopefully, very much hopefully, starting tomorrow everything will change," Bar-ziv said.

"I'm still not nervous," Zimmerman added. "I know that we're a much better team than this so I think that it is just a matter of us coming out focused and ready to play."

Regardless of the hopes and the belief in the underlying potential, Benson remains in a quandary, wondering how to unearth the talented team he knows he possesses.

"Personally I may have to do a lot more yelling," Benson said. "Last year if guys weren't playing intense we got out and did laps. We haven't done much of that this year because I thought that we were mature enough and disciplined enough to get ourselves ready to play. I guess I was taking a Pete Carroll approach instead of a Bill Parcells one."

Time is starting to run out and all Benson can do now is hope that the answer emerges tomorrow night against Brown.